One of the newest members of the North East England Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with one of the largest to provide advice for the region’s businesses on how to manage risk in their companies.
Emirates airline is sponsoring entrepreneurs David Tait and Jason Hicks, who have just started their Athena Risk business, in delivering free workshops on travel risk awareness with the first being launched onTuesday, 19 July at Close House, Heddon the Wall, Newcastle. Although Jason is currently completing a task advising NATO on security management of deployed personnel, he is due back to actively take part on the 19th July workshop.
David, director, Athena Risk said: “We are obviously delighted to have Emirates sponsor Athena Risk. Emirates are one of the region’s most prestigious names and the fact they see value in this workshop is a great testament to the Chamber’s ability to connect members no matter what size they are. It is also a reminder that we small businesses matter and have contributions to make to our regional business community.”
Tracy Chandler, Emirates’ senior corporate sales executive for the North East, commented: “At Emirates we have long been committed to supporting small businesses in the communities in which we operate, whether that’s by offering tailored travel solutions, transporting cargo across our global network or through a range of other initiatives. David and Jason have created a service which will be of huge benefit to the region’s SME community, and we are delighted to help them in their endeavours.”
Les Dixon, international trade relationship manager, the Chamber said: “One of the main aims of the Chamber is to help our regional SME’s connect with the major employers and put themselves before them in a way which might otherwise prove impossible. We are delighted to have played our part in Emirates partnering with Athena Risk on this event that promises to give any business trading overseas, food for thought. It will help inform people the best way to keep employees and business operations safe as possible. ”
Athena Risk operates out of Wylam and Newcastle city centre and provides UK organisations assistance in identifying, evaluating and navigating exposure to various business risks that can impact client operations. This could be due to theft of sensitive businesses information or even physical and environmental risks. David explained: “Our approach towards risk management is very much business orientated. We build safe environments for businesses to operate at home and overseas and establish threats to success but also identify opportunities within this space”.
David and Jason established their business after serving in the British armed forces. They both left 10 years ago and have since provided security risk management for the American Department for Defence and British MOD within the Middle East as well as several commercial companies. Their experience led them to identify gaps in the market which were critical vulnerabilities to UK companies who were operating in overseas markets.
David and Jason’s detailed knowledge of the Middle East is also useful for exporters who could be prepared with paperwork but not equipped with local information to traverse operational risks. He explained: “We helped a North East company recently who wanted their team to deploy to Iran. They had left it very late to get organised and were being charge £800 for visas. We made a quick call and were able to arrange visas and business support for no charge with our trusted partners based in London and Iran.”
Athena Risk’s advice for UK businesses travellers includes practical tips such as not drawing attention to yourself by looking like businesspeople, use of local drivers and selecting hotels to avoid potential risk. They also use their experience to help companies who may want to partner with local business people and companies by going through due diligence on their behalf. The company also prides itself on looking at the long term political landscape of any country as well, to assess what is on the horizon and how the regulatory base may shift in the future and affect trading.
David explained: “it’s vital to understand your new business environment in overseas markets and that means making informed decision. Partnering with the wrong distributer or failing to anticipate political movements can have serious consequences and increase the likelihood of business failure”.
David went on to say: “People tend to worry about terrorism during overseas business and although it needs to be considered a credible threat to business, in context we have more chance of becoming an astronaut than being killed by acts of terrorism. There are far more crippling risks out there to mitigate that impact our people and profits.
Follow the link to book on to the event https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/travel-risk-awareness-sponsored-by-emirates-tickets-24228004614